For the second time in the season, Juventus were only able to come out with a draw against Hellas Verona.
After a goalless first 45 minutes, the Bianconeri opened the scoring early in the second half thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo’s strike.
Unfortunately for the Old Lady, Andrea Pirlo’s men couldn’t survive a late Gialloblu onslaught, and Antonin Barak’s header snatched a point for the home side.
So here are three lessons that we learned from Juve’s disappointing draw on Saturday night.
Playing Verona is an unpleasant task
Pep Guardiola once said that playing against Atalanta is like going to the dentist. Well, he should try a visit to the Bentogodi.
Ivan Juric is a former pupil of Gian Piero Gasperini, which explains some of the similarities between their respective sides.
But whilst La Dea attacks with a venom, they still leave you some space behind.
On the other hand, Verona are incredibly well-organized, and it is very hard to break through lines, which makes them such an unpleasant team to play against.
Should Chiesa and Kulusevski switch positions?
In the absence of Alvaro Morata and Paulo Dybala, Pirlo has been opting to play Dejan Kulusevski alongside Cristiano Ronaldo upfront.
Nonetheless, the young Swede has been rarely effective in this position.
However, the former Atalanta man is really good at cutting from the right wing and delivering the ball to a teammate – as we witnessed on Saturday, when he presented Adrien Rabiot and Aaron Ramsey with two golden opportunities.
On the other hand, Federico Chiesa looks much more at ease when making a run through the middle and dribbling inside the area – which is how Juve’s lone goal was scored yesterday.
Therefore, should Kuluseveski return to his original position on the right wing and leave the second striker role for Chiesa?
The final nail?
Although a draw at the Bentigodi against one of the toughest sides in the league isn’t exactly a disastrous result in itself, it puts Juventus in a dire position in the league standings.
The Old Lady had actually lost this encounter last season, but that was a time when Maurizio Sarri afforded to drop points.
So unless Inter lose points in the next few rounds, we might remember this match as the final nail in Juve’s scudetto coffin.
Injuries are just excuses. Juventus play so poorly it’s painful to watch. The midfield is trash. Everytime rabiot starts a game i loose all hope. The journalist is 100% right. Ronaldo needs a team that can get the ball forward. Juve isnt that team at the moment. And not in a foreseeable future. Btw, which injuries are we talking about? So whole juve team is dyballa, cuadrado, and morata? Which other significant player is injured? If Liverpool is talking of injuries juve also raises their hand? Pathetic. The only way juve can challenge for anything is if Pirlo teaches ronaldo, morata and chiesa to track back, get the ball from szczcesny and go to score. Otherwise forget it. It’s so painful watching ronaldos final year being wasted. Juve have just 2 job. Get the ball to the front 3 , and defend. But they can’t do that. Ronaldo should leave. Even when he and chiesa, morata create something out of nothing, they can’t defend
Excellent analysis of a match we knew would be difficult, especially when taking into account how much Pirlo has to rotate the squad due to the crowded fixture list and player injuries.